1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dual mode decoder, and more particularly, to a dual mode decoder using control codes satisfying conditions of a DC-free code and spectrum 0 at Nyquist frequency.
2. Description of the Related Art
When data is to be encoded into codes and transmitted, it should be first guaranteed due to the characteristic of transmission lines that the condition of a DC-free code is satisfied. A lot of research projects have been focused on generation methods of this DC-free code. Also, it has been known that in order to transmit data at a high speed, a smaller transmission bandwidth that is required to encoded codes is more advantageous than a larger bandwidth and theoretically the minimum bandwidth desired to be transmitted should have spectral null at the Nyquist frequency.
In an article, “A condition for stable minimum-bandwidth line codes”, published in IEEE Trans. on Comm., Vol. COM-33, No. 2, pp 152-157, February 1985, the rationale of the condition that in addition to the DC-free condition, the spectrum should also be 0 at the Nyquist frequency is theoretically analyzed. Also, in an article, “DC-free and Nyquist-free error correcting convolutional codes”, published in Electronics Letters, Vol. 32, No. 24, pp 2196-2198, November, 1996, a (4, 3) code satisfying the conditions described above is suggested.
Meanwhile, U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,739 discloses a method in which a 5B/6B coder and a 3B/4B coder are combined to generate an 8B/10B coder to limit a run length, and based on 8-bit data, 10-bit code and control codes (align, skip, comma, etc.) required for transmission of the generated code are generated. However, though the codes generated by this method are DC-free codes, those are not minimum bandwidth codes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,724 discloses a method in which by a 16B/20B encoder implemented by placing two 8B/10B encoders in parallel in order to apply the method of U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,739 to fiber channels, an upper 3B/4B encoder controls the disparity of a lower 5B/6B encoder and a lower 3B/4B encoder controls the disparity of an upper 5B/6B encoder of the next word. However, since the encoder suggested in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,724 is also an 8B/10B encoder in essence, the codes generated by the encoder are DC-free codes but not minimum bandwidth codes.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,501,396 discloses a method in which in order to solve the shortcoming of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,724 that the number of encoders connected in parallel is limited to 2, a block to control disparity is separately implemented to control disparity in each channel. Though this method solves the problem of the limited number of channels capable of transmitting data in parallel, the codes generated by the encoder are also DC-free codes but not minimum bandwidth codes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,107 discloses a method in which in order to more simply implement an encoder in encoding 8 bits into 10 bits, all possible balanced (equal number of logic 0 and logic 1 bits) 10-bit codes are selected to obtain 256 entries, and if there are less than 256 entries, imbalanced 10-bit codes which are imbalanced by 2 bits or less are used. However, the codes generated by this method are also DC-free but not minimum bandwidth codes.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,441,756 discloses an 8B/14B code formed with a control code group separate from a data conversion code group in order to increase the probability of DC suppression. However, the codes suggested here are also DC-free codes but not minimum bandwidth codes.
Meanwhile, U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,757 discloses MB810 line code generation method and structure. The method disclosed by the U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,757 can generate minimum bandwidth codes capable of generating spectral null even at the Nyquist frequency, as well as DC-free codes, but has some problems when practically applied. First, there is a code whose run length (that is, the number of contiguous 0's or 1's) is 7 in the code itself. Also, there is a danger that run length exceeds 7 due to neighboring codes when 10-bit codes are transmitted. At this time, the worst case that the run length is 9 may occur. Accordingly, in the MB810 line code generation method and structure disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,757, it is difficult to utilize the clock extraction circuit used in the conventional 8B/10B codes. Also, since a code (comma code) for distinguishing frames used in the conventional 8B/10B encoder is included in a data code and there is no specific mention on the code (comma code) for distinguishing frames, it is difficult to use this method in a dual mode operation in which an 8B/10B encoder and an MB810 encoder are embedded and a user selects one encoder.
Also, Korean Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-0020519 discloses a method to enable dual mode use of the conventional 8B/10B coder and MB810 coder in order to complement the method of U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,757. This method uses codes /A/, /K/, /R/, as IDLE code group, in order to determine whether a received code is an 8B/10B code or an MB810 code. However, in order to use this method, the structures of 8B/10B encoders and decoders widely used at present should be changed.